Battlefield
by EmilyHelene
Summary: A/U: She never knew her father and seeking refuge at Camp Half Blood, a safe house for demigods in which she feels like an outsider might bring her closer to an answer. But what can an undetermined camper do besides hope for a miracle? Make one herself.
1. Arrival

Battlefield

**A Percy Jackson and the Olympians Story**

By: Emily Helene

* * *

Chapter One: Arrival

"It's okay, Brenna. You're fine. It's going to be alright." She brushed a soft hand across the forehead, the familiar smell of Dove moisturizer calming me, despite the abnormal happenings that surrounded us. My breathing was rapid and I hadn't been this scared since...well, never. Why couldn't things go back to the way they were before? I had been your average fourteen year old girl. Worrying about acne, boys, grades and what to wear the next day. Definitely not worrying about the monster tailing our car or wondering if I was going to live to see my next birthday. At least not that I could recall.

You see before I was being trailed by an unrecognizable monster from Hell, I had a normal life, with normal friends. Hardly perfect but not too bad. Average. That was a really effective way to describe my life. Between juggling friends and homework and stressing over boys, I really liked to read. Despite being cursed with mild dyslexia, things were going alright. I think that the biggest downer was that Alex Wright, my seven-year crush, had been just about to ask me out. So, as you can imagine, I was less than thrilled with my mom's surprise trip to our cottage near Long Island.

Now, that peaceful, worry-free trip was looking pretty good, right about now. I had been setting up a camp fire (which, I probably shouldn't have done, anyway because I can never get it started) so that my mom and I could roast s'mores together. In hindsight, I think mom should light the fire from now on.

Anyway, from out of nowhere, the sky grew dark and this strange looking black mist cast a shadow over our cottage, turning everything dark and blowing out the flame I had managed to finally get alight.

I never thought that my life would be really important to anything or anyone (besides my mom and my (hopefully) future husband). I was quite content with my average black curls, Snow White- pale skin and eyes as blue as the tide.

I, Brenna Diana Bourne was average.

At least that's what I thought.

"Mo-m" I whispered, my voice shaking like it was last summer at the massive stand up coaster at Adventureland. She turned towards me and for a moment, I caught a glimpse of her eyes and they looked just as scared as I felt.

For a minute, the world was calm and I tried to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. But before I could do even the first, something large, hairy and...I inhaled deeply, taking in a nose full of what could not have smelled worse than rotting human flesh. It ranked so badly tears streamed down my cheeks and my eyes stung as if I was standing too close to my mom and she was slicing onions for spaghetti sauce.

"Duck!" She cried. I didn't hesitate. A chunk of somebody's Volvo cam crashing into our windshield. If I hadn't of ducked, my head would have probably come clean off from the impact. Shards of glass pelted against my back, slicing through the thin fibers of my sweatshirt. I felt the hot liquid trickling down my back and winced in pain. I had never been to the hospital in my life and I had been hoping to keep it that way. So much for that.

I turned to my left to see my mom with her face smashed into her airbag. As best, she had a broken nose. At worst she was suffocating. As I opened the passenger side door to get her out, I desperately hoped that it was the first of the two items on my very short list. When I finally managed to pull her body out of the car I got an even better look at her face. Her eyes were shut and her face was streaked with her own blood. Her nose was crooked and her breathing was coming in shallow gasps. If I had been terrified before, now I was fear-stricken.

"Mom." I said, shaking her like she would magically wake up and tell me that things were alright and that I was hallucinating or...or having a nightmare. But I wasn't hallucinating or dreaming and she didn't wake up. Big, fat tears rolled down my cheeks, washing away the previous ones. A deep laugh sounded across the field and I looked up.

There in the distance was the figure growling in pleasure. Apparently, nearly murdering my mother and scaring the crap out of an anti-athletic fourteen year old was entertaining. Exactly what kind of sicko was this?

"You want a piece of me?" I screamed, catching the attention of the creep. In hindsight, egging on the revolting monster that wanted to rip my throat out probably wasn't the smartest thing to do given the circumstances. It looked over at me and charged.

Replaying the moment in my head over and over, running would have been ideal but with my unconscious mother being about 100lbs heavier than I was used to carrying, I wouldn't have been able to take her with me. And I wasn't about to leave her behind.

Instead, I shoved her in the passenger seat of the car and hopped into the driver's seat. It's not like I hadn't driven before because by grade nine where I was from, everyone had driven their parent's car. My mom had taken me on the back roads outside of our cottage and taught me the basics. I was pretty good, too. But if you thought for one second that I would be comfortable ramming a mysterious creature with my mom's Honda civic, you, my friend, were dead wrong. Because that's what I was about to do.

I also had just seen my mother, the strongest person I had ever known, pass out and almost stop breathing after the front end of our car had been crashed by a piece of Volvo. I wasn't thinking straight.

Suddenly the figure appeared in front of me, about six or seven feet away and snarled. It looked kind of snake-like, with a the face of a human. I jammed the key into the ignition and floored it. For having just crashed, it went pretty fast. Behind the broken lens cover, the speedometer read 60 miles an hour. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I could feel my pulse thumping loudly in my head. A second later, our car crashed a second time and my mom woke up.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She yelled. I looked at her, nearly swerving into a ditch. Her hand reached out and grabbed the wheel, pulling us back onto the road. The snake-like figure had vanished and reappeared a few feet away, weakened but not defeated.

Despite the crash, I hadn't even gotten a good look at it yet. "What was this thing?" I wanted to know. "And why is it still running after getting hit with a car that is heavy to begin with at 60 miles per hour?" If I hadn't been so scared, I would have been confused.

"What was that thing?" My mom asked. I shook my head, it hurt to, but I did anyway.

"I don't know." I said. "But whatever it it," I paused to look in the rear view mirror. "It's gone."

"For now." My mom said, icily. Judging by her tone of voice, I'd guess that she'd seen it before.

"They always come back." She whispered.

"What was that." I asked.

"Nothing."

"Hey mom." I said. She looked at me. "Do you want to drive?"

"You're doing a better job than I could right now." I blinked, halfway between disbelief and astonishment.

"You...want me...to _drive?_" I asked. She nodded.

"Where are we going now anyway?" I asked. Being the one in the driver's seat, I had a vested interest in knowing our destination. And rightfully so.

"Camp." She grimaced.

"Camp?" I was confused. "What camp? And do you have directions? Maybe we should stop for the night?"

"No!" She shrieked. I looked from side to side.

"Or we could keep going." I added before flooring it down the gravel road. "Where is this camp anyway?

"Long Island. It's in Long Island." She swallowed a huge lump in her throat. "Camp Half-Blood."

I remember driving down dark back roads that night, thinking about the camp.

_ What kind of name is Camp Half-Blood? _

My mom punched the location into her GPS, which, despite the crash was still in perfect working order. It took us a while but we got there.

From the driver's seat, I could hear the screeching and scraping of the metal against the asphalt. It got better when we turned onto the gravel road, but not much. Mom fell asleep in the passenger seat, but I had to stay up. The cruise control, along with many other things, had been busted so I had to hold the gas pedal down all the way there.

By the time we pulled up to the road that ran alongside a large farmhouse-like building atop a massive hill, my feet ached and I could barely keep my eyes open. I had a new-found respect for drivers everywhere.

I was asleep within minutes, being carried up that big, huge hill in strong arms. Nearby, I heard what could only be explained as the gentle clip-clop of horse's hooves, which I found funny because Camp Half-Blood didn't exactly sound like a horseback riding camp.

I was about to find, however, a lot of things about my new home funny. Starting with the fact that it was likely I wouldn't see my mother for a long time. However, a lot of the questions I had regarding my elusive dad were about to be answered.

If not in the way I would have expected. And trust me, never in my fourteen years on this planet had I ever even _considered _that I would find the secrets to my family heritage at a summer camp in Long Island, New York. Especially one called Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that appeared in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books or film, they are property of Rick Riordan and Disney Hyperion. **_

**A/N: Sorry that this first chapter is so short. I hope to be posting more soon. Read & Review, please!**

**-Emily  
**


	2. Discovery

Battlefield

Chapter Two: Discovery

In. Out. In. Out. The gentle rise and fall of my chest reminded me that I was alive. Alive _and _well, however, I was still unsure. The gentle murmur of voices very nearly lulled me back to my peaceful dreamland when a hard voice sliced through the air like a knife.

"Another?" He complained.

"Now, now, Mr. D." Another voice, a calm and smooth one, tried to calm the other man down.

"Well, she wasn't claimed, was she?" The one the other man had called Mr. D asked lazily.

"No. She will stay in the Hermes cabin until further notice."

"If you already had everything figured out," Mr. D groaned, "then why did you pull me away from my soaps, Chiron?"

"You _are _camp director." Chiron pointed out. "You call the shots, I suppose."

"Only for a century." Mr. D mumbled grumpily.

By now, I was fully awake, but I kept my eyes shut tight and remained motionless. Maybe, if I could figure out what was going on in advance I would know how to, in theory, win. The only thing I needed to figure out was how and what I was up against. Oh, and why exactly, I was fighting.

Just then, my ears detected another voice.

"What's her name?" He asked. I realized he was right near by and, judging by the amount his voice was cracking, he was going through puberty. Which meant that he was close to my age. I just needed to look at him.

"Brenna Dianna Bourne." Chiron answered.

"I don't care!" Mr. D hollered before stomping out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The entire building shook and I made my first mistake.

I opened my eyes. Just a touch, mind you. Barely even at all.

"Brenna as in-" But he obviously noticed my eyelids flutter briefly because he stopped, mid-sentence. "I think she's awake."

"Ah, good." Chiron clapped his hands together. I looked at him and everything was pretty normal until I saw his legs. They were furry and there were four of them.

"He's...he's..a...horse?" I didn't scream or run, I just stared at him. He didn't seem to let my reaction faze him though and continued with his instruction to the boy next to me.

"Nico, pass her the cup on her bedside please. Oh, and make sure she drinks it all, I'll be right back."

The boy, Nico, smiled at me. He had eyes black as ebony and his shaggy black hair flopped over them in a way that was both messy sort of cute all at the same time. Over his olive skin, he wore an orange t-shirt that looked really out of place on him. Like someone took a high society heiress and put her in welfare housing or a Gothic girl wearing a miniskirt and a pink baby doll. It just didn't work.

"Hi." He extended his arm. "I'm Nico."

I tried to reach my arm up to shake his hand but I probably shouldn't have. A dull but still uncomfortable pain raced through my arm and my breath caught in my throat. I wasn't used to bing injured. I found my voice and shrieked. Nico, looked for help and a teenage girl with long, curly blond hair and striking gray eyes came over.

"New arrival?" She guessed. He nodded.

"Came in last night."

"Last night?" Blondie raised her eyebrows as if she were impressed.

"Brenna." I croaked.

"Annabeth." She offered. "Nice to meet you."

She transferred her attention back to Nico. "How bad was she?"

"Her back was cut up but not too badly and she was dead tired. Might have hit her head. But otherwise, pretty good. Better than Percy!" He laughed.

"Way better than Percy. He needed a full glass. She just needs a little bit."

My head hurt just listening to them. What the heck was going on?

"Where's my mom?" I asked. "I she here?"

Both Nico and Annabeth looked kind of worried. "Uh. She's not here, actually." Annabeth said.

"Only you could cross the boundary. She's mortal." Annabeth elbowed Nico in the ribs.

"Are you alright?" She asked me. I nodded.

"I think."

"Drink up, relax and try not to think too much. Nico here will help you..." She looked like she was searching for just the right word. "understand."

Then she left. I looked around at the room. It was a large tent, framed with large pieces of exposed wood and beds were lined up one after the other. A red cross over the door marked it as the infirmary. It didn't make sense though, because there were no first aid kits or what not. Just two big refrigerators labeled _Nectar _and _Ambrosia._

Carefully, I sat myself up in bed and looked at Nico. "What did she mean, understand?"

"Well, we'd better walk." He said. I got out of bed but my feet were numb and I tumbled to the ground. "Whoa. Here." He put my arm around his neck and I leaned on him for support. He grabbed my glass of... well, stuff and we left the infirmary.

"So?" I began once the infirmary was behind us. He handed me the glass of liquid and I drank it eagerly.

I put the glass to my lips and tipped it upwards, the golden liquid sliding down the side of the cup and into my mouth. It tasted like...heaven. There really was no better way to put it. Pure heaven. I emptied it quickly.

"Is there anymore?" I asked.

Nico shook his head. "Nope. You can't drink too much of that stuff. It will literally burn your insides and light your body on fire."

"Oh."

"Have you ever heard of Greek mythology. You know, the twelve Olympians, that sort of thing?"

I nodded. Of course I did.

"Well, I don't know how else to put this." He closed his eyes and spoke slowly. "They really exist." He opened one eye, as if expecting me to laugh my butt off.

I rolled my eyes. Right. Though, I couldn't help but let my mind wander. It would explain a lot of things. Especially this camp.

"Yeah right."

He ignored my comment.

"In the old stories, they came down to Earth and fell in love with mortal. These...uh unions brought children. They were half god, half human. A demigod."

I wasn't dumb and quickly put one and one together.

"You mean I'm a," I paused. "What's it called?"

"A demigod." He clarified.

"Right. That." I added. "You expect me to believe that?" I very nearly burst out laughing.

"It's true."

I shook my head. I guess I probably should have been watching where I was going because next thing I knew, I was running head on into a kid in full Greek battle armor. No joke.

The impact almost knocked the wind out of me. "Ow!" I squeaked, not being able to say much else.

"Sorry." The kid lifted their helmet off, displaying a head of dark brown curls. She looked at me curiously then turned to Nico. "Newbie?"

He nodded. "And a skeptic."

I shrugged. It's not everyday you get told your long lost father who you've never met is on of the twelve Olympians.

She thrust out her hand and I shook it. "Veronica Dwight, daughter of Aphrodite." She smiled. From the corner of my eye, I caught Nico's eyes pop out of his head when he looked at her. I shoved his ribs with my elbow. That distracted him.

"As lovely as the view is here..." I smirked, "I think we should get going, Nico." He shook himself out of his Veronica-induced trance and followed me. Though, I couldn't imagine why. I had absolutely no idea where I was going. The last time I'd gone off course, I'd run into -literally- another camper.

"Where to next?" I asked. He pointed to a ring of houses in the distance.

"The cabins." I raised my eyebrows, but followed him.

As they came into view, I saw that each cabin was very different from the next. There were several of them and they formed one big circle around a fire pit. The only thing they had in common was a big brass number on the door, but that was it. The pair at the head of the field, cabins one and two, were big white marble boxes with heavy Greek columns out front. The first, I assumed was Zeus' looked like the biggest of all of them. It had a holographic gold door with little lightning bolts engraved on the side. The second, Hera's as I found out from Nico, was garnished with pomegranates and the walls were covered with peacocks. Not real ones though.

The next, cabin three was really low to the ground and made of gray stone embedded with sea shells and coral. That one was obvious. Cabin four looked like a sprawling spring garden competition, with sunflowers and ivy's hanging off the walls and beds of flowers in window boxes. It was pretty and smelled like the flower shop my mom had bought my eighth grade graduation corsage at only about ten times better.

I decided to steer clear of cabin five altogether. it just freaked me out with it's stuffed boar's head, barbed wire and really bad paint job. Six, well six looked...intelligent. There's really no other way to put it. From the gray owl out front to the tidy white bricks that made up the walls it just breathed smarts. I doubted that was my cabin.

After a look at all of them, I didn't see myself in any of them. Not even the Hermes cabin, where I would be bunking until I was claimed. Apparently, I _would_ get claimed. Percy had asked for that from the gods as his award for saving Mt. Olympus. The way he talked about Percy, he sounded like a hero. Well, judging by the stories, by definition, he _was _a hero.

"Will I get to meet him?"

"Probably. He's a counselor here, like Annabeth."

"Oh." Then something struck me. "Who's your parent?"

He froze, like his mom or dad was a touchy subject. I flushed. "I'm sorry for- I didn't know-." I sighed. "I shouldn't have even asked."

He gave a small half smile. "It's okay. Oh, there's the volleyball court."

I looked at the volleyball court, my eyes narrowing. Brenna + Volleyball = Big Problem.

A boy of about eleven waved us over. "Come on and play!" He shouted, spiking the ball over the net, scoring a point for his team. "Yes! A point for Athena!"

Nico nodded. "Sure!" He called back.

I began to sweat. There was no way I was playing volleyball. "No." I said. "I. Am. Not. Playing. Volley. Ball."

He laughed. "It'll be fun." I shook my head. "I'll tell you who my dad is?"

I thought for a moment. Why not? Everyone was going to find out sooner or later that I was not at all athletic.

As it turned out, I was put on cabin seven's team and Nico was on cabin six's. We got crushed, 24 - 8. Mostly because of me and I had a feeling that I had not made friends with Apollo's kids.

"Hades." Nico said finally, after the game had ended.

"Huh?"

"Hades. My dad. You wanted to know."

"Oh." I mumbled. "Like the god of the Underworld, Hades?"

He nodded.

"I wonder who my 'parent' is." I began. "I mean, who my parent would be if I wasn't a skeptic."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't know."

"I won't believe it until somebody proves it to me." I said, stubbornly.

But in the back of my mind, I was starting to come around. Maybe there _were _such things as demigods. And maybe, just maybe, I was one of them.


	3. The Big House

Battlefield

Chapter Three: _The Big House  
_

* * *

"Welcome to Cabin eleven." Nico waved his hands outside of the door and sported the most plastic smile I'd ever seen like a game show girl with a name like Lana. I knew he was joking of course. "With only one large room and only a sleeping bag to call your own, you will love it!"

"Yeah. Thanks." I laughed. "Here's Jack Morris, head of cabin eleven." A tall boy with messy blond curls came to stand beside me. He had a scar on his left forearm and his blue irises were massive. All in all, he wasn't bad looking. Not like Nico, but. Never mind.

"Hi, Brenna." He held out his hand and I shook it hesitantly. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

"Thanks, I think." I smiled. Nico waved good-bye and I stepped through the threshold, entering my new home. At least until I was chosen anyway.

The entire floor was covered in sleeping bags and though there were bunks, they were just used as shelves. There were too many kids bunking in there, definitely way more than it could really hold. I could hear them talking. From what I could hear, most weren't all that happy to see me.

Jack pointed to a space in the far left corner of the cabin, just big enough for one sleeping bag. In fact, there was already one there folded out. "That one's yours." He smiled. "Annabeth and Nico said that you were coming this morning so we grabbed another one from the camp store."

"Thanks." Wait, something about that statement bothered me. Hermes was the messenger god, right? And what else? I couldn't remember.

"Hey, everybody!" A girl called from the door. She wore an orange t-shirt identical to Nico's. Only, hers didn't look out of place. Her white-blond hair was tied back in a long braid and her brown eyes glimmered like beach glass. In her hands she carried a full 12 pack of Coke. "Look what I got!"

I faintly remembered Nico saying something about no one at camp being allowed to have money. Thieves! I realized. Hermes was the God of thieves. I was so proud of myself for paying attention during the mythology strand of my English class. I had never guessed I'd ever need to worry about it in real life. No ordinary mortal child _should _have to worry about it. Guess I wasn't as normal as I thought.

"Did you-" I paused, not sure of how to convey what I wanted to successfully. "steal those?"

The girl and another camper exchanged a glance. "Newbie?" She guessed. I nodded in time with Nico.

I rolled my eyes.

"And yeah," She added. "I did steal them. But no one really minds. Everyone does it." She paused to think, "Well, actually everyone _tries_ to do it. Only a couple Hermes kids can actually pull it off. I pride myself in being one of those select few."

"Not at all cocky, eh Shae?" The boy grinned knowingly. Shae elbowed him.

"Honestly, Jack. Me? Cocky? You've got to be kidding." And she grinned right back. "He's just jealous because he _isn't _one of the _select few._"

Jack, tired of the ongoing conversation, promptly changed the subject and was not at all subtle about it. "Undetermined?"

"Excuse me?" I cut in. "What?" I raised my arm about to protest but Nico gently placed it back at my side.

"Right now, yeah."

"Great. Fantastic."

"What does that mean?"

"Gods, Nico," Jack turned to Nico. "You didn't tell me she was _really _new."

He shrugged his shoulders, obviously not thinking it was that important. "Whatever." He smiled, running a hand through his hair, self consciously.

"Gods?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It means 'jeez' or 'god'. It's like a slang."

"Oh." I nodded, understanding. "That makes sense."

"Well, we certainly like to think so," Shae smiled before turning her attention to her entire cabin. "Who wants one?" Shae asked. Several campers flocked to her side like sea gulls to a fallen french fry. She handed a few out at random, keeping one for herself. To my surprise, she saw a red and white aluminum can fly my way.

"Thanks."

Shae nodded and opened her Coke, letting its scent fill the cabin. It smelled so much sweeter knowing that she had stolen it, fair and square (not to mention worked her butt off).

A younger camper stood at a window that faced the circle of cabins and shouted to the rest of the kids inside. "Chiron's here!"

It was crazy how quickly everyone shut their mouths and seemed innocent. Shae hid her Coke behind her back as the large centaur's shadow appeared on the floor.

Jack opened the door and let Chiron in. His form quickly filled the small cabin.

"Brenna Bourne." When he spoke, power and rightful authority radiated off of him in much the same way as sweat radiated off a middle schooler after gym class. "Your sleeping arrangements have been slightly modified."

Nico looked confused. "But I thought you said..."

"I know what I said." He explained. "Listen to what I'm saying now."

I shrugged. "Okay?" I moved towards the door, stepping over kids on top of sleeping bags trading cards. One trimmed with gold featured a giant horse like animal. What did Nico call it? Oh, right. A centaur. Wait, did that one look like the, uh, centaur before me? I blinked. All of this was too much for one night.

Apparently, weaving so tightly in and out of a group of Hermes campers wasn't my best idea. I felt a hand brush my pocket and knew something was wrong. Searching in my pocket for my cell phone, I noticed that it was gone. What I realized was that one of the cabin members must have taken it.

"Hey! Give it back." What I didn't realize was that there was a smaller kid at my feet and I hadn't been watching where I was going.

I saw the ground rush to meet me and braced myself for the impact that never came.

Instead I was caught by a pair of strong arms. I looked and saw Nico holding me up. My face grew hot and I felt a blush coming on.

"Thanks." I said, looking away as fast as possible.

"No problem." He wasn't looking at me either and he had dropped his arms.

"Brenna?" Chiron called. I had almost forgot he was here. "Are you coming?"

I bowed my head and hurried out of the cabin, managing to stay vertical the entire time. Before we left, Chiron poked his head in the door.

"Taking property that belongs to another is not wise. And such acts as this do not go unnoticed. Nor to they escape consequences." He turned to face me again. "Come along, Brenna."

I followed alongside him instead, jogging to keep up with him. I couldn't help but notice that Nico wasn't there. Not that he _should_ be... never mind.

"If you don't mind my asking, Chiron," I piped up. Before then, the walk had been painfully quiet. "Where am I going to be staying?" I looked around at all of the different cabins, not quite seeing myself in any of them. I wasn't a talented musician, therefore no daughter of Apollo was I. I couldn't swim to save my life so Poseidon was out, as well. And I didn't have anger issues so Ares wasn't my dad. Suddenly, I was overcome with a strong desire to know who my father was.

Some of the kids in my kindergarten class had bragged about their fathers being rich business men, or fire fighters, or doctors. I never felt like a part of those conversations, never knew that I had a father at all. Now, I realized that I did have a father. But that didn't really make me feel any better. I still had no idea who he was.

"The Big House," Chiron motioned to a large light blue farmhouse. Following his gaze, I saw the building. Pale blue in colour and at least four stories tall. It reminded me of the farm my mom and I used to pass by on our way to the cove. It looked neater and appeared to be well kept, whereas the one we passed was always messy and had chickens running freely on the porch.

Just to be sure, I checked the porch as we neared it, the only sound I heard was the gentle _clip-clop _of Chiron's hooves. It was calming in a way. I though of my mother. What had happened to her. Was she still alive? Gods, I hoped so.

"Chiron," I began, my lower lip trembling. "When I came across the property line," I looked away, not wanting to be caught crying. "My mom," My voice broke, shattered into a million pieces. It had always been my mom and I against the world. Now, was it just me? I shook my head, no. The monster had left. Right? I shook my head, forcing myself to remember. It wasn't working.

"Your mother is fine. As she will stay. Your presence her confirms that. You are both safer where you are." Somehow, I found little complacency in his statement. My feet followed the large yet graceful centaur, but I permitted my mind to wander for a few precious seconds. I was in my living room, dressed in my favourite pajamas. They consisted of a short powder blue nightgown with ten white buttons down the front. My mom sat behind me, her arms around my shoulders. I felt, _safe_. We were watching a movie and my legs were spread out underneath a polished black coffee table and two mugs of steaming hot cocoa lay atop it. I smiled, remembering how it felt to have her arms around me. Then it was gone, like sand in the wind. All I could hear was Chiron's calls, beckoning my forward.

As much as I wanted to stay in this memory, with my mom and my hot chocolate, I obeyed.

"I'm here." I sighed, letting myself be led forward to the aforementioned "Big House". When we reached the front porch, I took notice of the strange, somewhat eerie feeling the peeling blue siding gave me, even in the golden light of the day. I felt a shiver run up and down my spine before shaking it off and climbing the steps.

It was surprisingly sturdy for an old farmhouse and didn't creek under my weight. Chiron led me inside and I was met with the smell of Diet Coke. Seated at a table was a man in a leopard print jog suit. For some reason, I didn't think this guy would be caught dead jogging. In his hand was a goblet of soda, just as I'd guessed. I smiled at him but all I got was a scowl in return.

"This is the new kid?" He said, no looking at me.

I started to say something but Chiron shushed me and took over.

"Yes," he replied. "This is Brenna Bourne."

I tried to speak again but I was interrupted again. The other man took a long swig of his drink before setting his cup loudly on the surface of the table. I took pity on it. He belched loudly and I crinkled my nose in disgust. This guy was nasty!

"Uh, Chiron." I tried my best to keep the revulsion in my voice as minimal as possible. My attempts were feeble and didn't go unnoticed by the creep in the chair. "Who is this?"

"I don't believe you've formally met Mr. D." He announced, I shook my head, though I do remember hearing the name when I was swimming in and out of consciousness. I could finally put a face to the name. "Camp Director. Also known as Dionysus. God of..."

I looked at the purple shirt underneath his jogging suit and was able to finish the sentence for him. "Wine." I said. "God of whine, I mean wine."

My little slip up hadn't gone unnoticed as I had hoped it would. "Watch what you say, Miss Bourke." He warned, waving a finger in my direction, his gut quivering slightly.

"Bourne." I corrected.

"Whoever!" He sighed, sounding very bored. "You're an undetermined, aren't you?"

Chiron nodded that I was, shooting my a look that told me to stay quiet. I didn't hesitate. I was too tired to talk anyway.

"Why isn't she in the Hermes cabin with all the other misfits, I mean undetermined ones?" I rolled my eyes. I could tell that this "Mr. D" and I weren't going to get along.

"There were too many complaints."

Mr. D didn't even try to hide the satisfaction in his voice. "Making friends on her first day, I see Becca?"

"_Brenna_." I sighed impatiently. "My name is _Brenna_." He didn't even glance my way.

"No, no." Chiron shook his head, seeing just what he had started. "Brenna's been making plenty of friends, Mr. di Angelo has been showing her around camp, introducing her to several campers from the various cabins. The Hermes kids seem to like her a great deal."

"Then why can't she bunk with them?" He demanded.

"Frankly, they are tired of being the cabin that every newbie gets put in. She'll stay here, in the Big House until she is claimed."

"So let me get this straight," he said, pushing away from the table and standing up. "Every single new brat will be staying in the Big House where I can hear them and see them everyday?"

Chiron nodded. "Until Miss Chase finishes with the construction of the Temporary Cabin."

"At least Tartarus is relatively private." He mumbled under his breath, picking up his goblet again. Instantly, it filled with a dark brown bubbly liquid. More Diet Coke, I assumed.

The centaur turned towards me. "I assume you will want to get acquainted with your new room. Monica will show you where it is."

I was about to ask who Monica was when a dark haired girl in an orange camp shirt, surprise surprise, appeared behind me. She motioned for me to follow her up the stairs and I did. We walked along in silence though I was always a few steps behind her.

"Hi." I said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Hello." She said, her gaze not meeting mine.

"I'm Brenna?" I tried. She looked over, as if surprised by my statement.

"Monica Sparks," she replied, "daughter of Apollo and Camp Counselor."

"Cool." I smiled.

"Who's your dad?" She asked. I jumped, surprised by her question. Then it struck me, I knew about as much about him as she did.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"I'm sorry I even-"

"Don't worry about it." I tried to smile but she could tell it was halfhearted.

"Here you go." She said, stopping in front of a brown door. I twisted the knob and peeked inside. It looked like an ordinary motel room, minus the mini fridge and television. In the center of the room was a double bed with green sheets surrounded by a dresser, mirror and desk. Sunlight poured in the window along the wall and there was a new orange t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts folded neatly on the bed. It looked pristine and I could tell it hadn't been used much, if at all.

I turned around to thank Monica for showing it to me but she was already gone. I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to the unfamiliar bed. My bed, I said to myself. It didn't sound right.

I sat down and freed my feet from their running shoes before kicking them under the bed. Even though it was mid afternoon, I was exhausted. I was too tired to bother changing my clothes but I stopped when I looked at the dirt that was caked on my denim shorts. I reached into the pocket and pulled out my few belongings; a blue hair elastic, some bobby pins, an unopened piece of Trident gum and a picture of my mom and I that I carried with me every where. Smiling, I set the photograph down on the table beside the bed.

Suppressing another sigh, I pulled myself off the bed and over to the dresser. Insider, there were only a few t-shirts, all way to large for my tiny body but they would do.

I stripped down to my undies and slipped the big white t-shirt over my head. It billowed out all around me, clearly about six or so sizes too big. Not being able to keep my eyes open for another second, I collapsed on the bed, pulling up the sheets before finally shutting my eyes.

For a few hours, I drifted in and out of sleep, waking up to a setting sun and then a dark sky. Down the hall, the gentle _clip clop _of horse's hooves met my ears. A knock sounded at the door.

"Come in." I called, tiredly. Moments later, Chiron's head peeked through the threshold.

"About your cell phone," he began. "Lost things have a way of returning to their owners. The Hermes kids do it all in fun." Somehow I didn't believe that but I nodded my head like I did. "Goodnight, Brenna."

I smiled, sleepily. "Thanks, Chiron."

With that, he exited swiftly and I listened to the sounds of his hooves until I could no longer hear them. I found myself staring up at the ceiling before staring at the backs of my eyelids. When I woke up again in the night, I saw my silver cell phone on my night stand, starlight dancing off of its shiny surface. I smiled.

And then, I fell back into a deep sleep, dreaming of my mother and her delicious home-made hot chocolate until the sun came up.

* * *

Thanks to **artimisgirl101 **and **ask101** for convincing me to add another chapter! Thanks again for the reviews, guys! This one goes out to you! Well, I've decided to take this story in a different direction. I'm guessing it's turning out alright because that's the longest chapter so far.

Reviews are love!

{EmilyHelene}


	4. Life & Death

Battlefield

Chapter Four: _Life & Death _

* * *

That morning when the breakfast bell sounded, I was the furthest thing from ready, or hungry for that matter, but I went anyway. As I scooped eggs onto my plate, I thought about the

drastic changes my life had undergone in the past week. My mom was almost murdered, I had made friends with Hades son, was being taught archery by a centaur who had been alive

longer than Heracles and had driven my mom's car, which, if you ask me, was the scariest of all. So much for a normal life. On top of that, I may finally discover who my father is if he ever

decides to claim me, of course. Which, obviously, hasn't happened yet. And to think, three weeks ago I had been stressing over my Algebra final.

I sat in my normal spot near the back of the pavilion and poked around at my eggs without actually eating any of them. By now, Nico was usually awake and making his way over to the

dining hall. I glanced towards the Hades cabin curiously but the flames were extinguished; Nico wasn't there.

Chiron, who paced the perimeter every meal no doubt keeping an eye out for rowdy food fights (usually instigated by the Ares campers), caught my gaze and followed it to the circle of

cabins. The table I sat at was always deserted and I would admit, I got bored rather easily. Chiron approached, his leather satchel slung across his back.

"Where's Nico?" I asked, curiously sneaking another sideways glance at the Hades Cabin.

"He is busy at the moment and had to leave camp," he answered, nonchalantly. "Might I suggest finishing your breakfast?"

I stared down at my plate, my eggs, although finely mashed and spread out, had yet to be eaten. I set my fork down mid-mash and put my hands in my lap, giving the centaur my full

attention. He cleared his throat,

"I find your predicament quite a puzzling one, Brenna" his eyebrows furrowed together slightly, "After discovering your er.. unusual heritage in the way you did..." he trailed off, looking up

towards the sky. "I would have thought you would be claimed shortly following your arrival, especially with Percy's lone request of the gods...Though," hid face softened, "I'm sure it is

nothing to worry about."

In the short while that I had known the centaur, I had become accustomed to his clear, concise method of communication. This, however, was kind of weird.

"I haven't been." The lie came much smoother and quicker than I would have liked. This couldn't have been further from the truth. I thought about my dad's identity every second I got.

Knowing that Chiron had no idea who he was wasn't a comforting thought. I pushed it to the back of my mind, along with everything else I had been thinking about.

"When do you think Nico will be back?" I asked, eager to change the subject. Something changed inside of him and he transferred his gaze to me once more.

"Likely later today, if all goes well."

"Is all going well?"

"Why don't you finish eating and head to the arena. Nico isn't the only fourteen year old demigod here, you know."

For some reason, I blushed at that remark and nodded. Chiron nodded and went to attend to a small food fight that had broken out between Ares and Hermes. Travis Stoll stood atop a

table, throwing a fist full of eggs at Johnny Bishop, Clarisse's second in command. The surrounding tables weren't much help, and were just berating the situation further.

I inhaled my breakfast and headed over to the arena, like Chiron had suggested. It was no school gymnasium, that went without saying. From the outside it looked suspiciously like the

Roman Collesium. On the inside, it was massive and several demigods in full battle armor lunged at each other with swords, knives and even an electric spear? Wouldn't want to get on

the wrong end of that.

I cocked my head to the side when I saw a girl, her long blond ponytail stuck out the back of her helmet. In her hands was a sparkling blade that looked like it was made of gold. She spun

to block an attack to her right side, deflecting it so forcefully that she knocked one of her opponents to the ground. An attack came from her left side and just when I thought she was

going to be down for the count, she struck a blow so powerful, it knocked the other fighter aside. He raised his helmet and stared at his attacker, dumbfounded.

"I think that's enough for today, guys." She walked over to a bench and sat down, picking up a water bottle. I followed, extremely curious.

"Hey," I said. She looked up, taking a drink of water.

"Hi, I'm Bethany, daughter of Athena." She said, sounding bored with the conversation. She said the last part like it was a privilege and I almost laughed. It sounded pretty abnormal

coming out of her mouth. Especially in 2011. "You are?"

"Brenna," I said, hesitantly. This girl may have had the ability to kick the crap out of a few in the arena, but she wasn't the most social person I'd ever met.

"Who's your parent?" She asked, curiously.

"Uhm, my mom's a nurse in Queens,"

"She's undetermined," a girl said, walking towards us. I recognized her as Veronica, the girl I had met on my first day.

"Oh," she said, her voice suddenly stiff, she started to turn away obviously not expecting me to say anything.

"Is that a problem?" I asked, my tone matching hers. She whipped her head around and I felt her eyes bore into my face. I almost regretted standing up for myself.

"Only if you plan on going on quests." She said forming each word carefully.

"Hey, Brenna." Veronica said, smiling brightly. I wonder if she ever got tired of doing that. "Hey, Beth."

I smiled back at her and stood up a little straighter. "What if I do?" I asked, hoping that it sounded as threatening as it had in my head.

Everything stood at a standstill for a moment, before Bethany's laugh filled the air. She was _laughing _at me.

She removed the elastic from her ponytail and shook it out. "Well, you would have to be claimed. But as far as I can tell you wouldn't even be ready then." She gave me a once over and I

felt like an idiot. Nothing like picking a fight with a daughter of Athena to lighten your spirits.

"Grab a sword." She said, her voice slightly menacing.

"Why?" My voice hardened.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Just do it."

"Fine." I stomped over to the armory and picked up the first one I saw. It seemed to weigh more than me.

"Ahem," I turned to see Veronica holding a much smaller sword and shield.

"You fight?" I asked, incredulously. Her mouth seemed to turn down into a frown, something I thought would be impossible.

"We're all trained in hand to hand combat. You haven't yet?"

"No." I said quietly, guessing at what was to come. "I haven't."

"Then, good luck. Bethany is one of the best fighters Chiron has ever seen." She looked like she truthfully felt bad for me and I tried to let it roll of my chest. It wasn't going anywhere.

"Thanks," I mumbled, taking the lighter sword and shield from her. They weren't as awkward as the first set, but _still _weighed a ton.

I walked slowly out of the armory, wondering how much of a fool I was going to make out of myself. Keep low, stay on defense, keep moving. I had learned a thing or two from my gym

class fencing unit. Maybe it would help me not- well, die.

Bethany stood impatiently, with a hand on her hip. A small crowd had gathered around us and my heart sank.

"Ready?" She asked, not looking the slightest bit remorseful.

_No. _"Yes." She nodded, and bowed her head. Not sure what I was supposed to do I just copied her.

Then she leaped forward and smacked the side of her weapon against my sword, scaring the crap out of me. I tried to move around and keep low when she went for my legs, slicing one

of them with the tip of her sword. It stung but I tried to ignore it. I had zero pain tolerance. Zero. So much for my mom's motto, keep calm and carry on.

I managed to hold my sword right and charged her, but she deflected my attack with her sword. HER SWORD! I couldn't even do that with my shield.

She spun and put her sword to the side of my neck.

"Dead." She cried, before pulling it away. I was following her attacks instead of seeing what she was going to do. I never was a good fencer either.

After she called out "Dead!" about ten more times, I had had enough of Bethany Cooper and her stupid "undetermined camper-hating" attitude. I threw my armor at the ground and

stomped out of the arena, tears stinging at my eyes.

"Better luck next time, Brianna." I didn't even have the heart to tell her it was Brenna.

It was only just after eleven but I all that I wanted to do was sleep. I kicked at the dirt, feeling more alone than ever. I didn't care about stupid Bethany or stupid Camp Half-Blood or any

of it! I just wanted to go home. I stumbled through the forest trying to follow the shortcut Nico had shown me the day before. Was I supposed to turn left at the creepy old elm, or

right? I couldn't remember.

I couldn't believe I'd made that big of a fool out of myself! In front of basically everyone. I looked ahead and all that I could see were trees and rocks and all of them looked the same.

Finally, the tears that had been stinging at my eyes since the arena flooded down my face. I never cried. Never.

"Hello?" A voice called. I jerked my head up, in utter surprise.

My breath caught in my throat and I tried to keep as quiet as possible. I didn't want anyone to find me like this. A twig snapped under my feet as I stood up, and I prayed to the Gods that who ever was here didn't hear it.

The voice came again, "Hello?" but this time it was further off. I was safe.

I tore out through the woods, low hanging branches and leaves scratching against my arms and legs. I ran until my legs ached and finally came to the edge of the treeline. Up ahead was

the arena. Great, I thought, I'd gone in a circle. Then I saw Bethany leaving with a couple girls, who laughed and swung their swords. I ducked back into the bushes, hitting my knee on a

rock. I bit my lip, suppressing a cry of pain. This day just kept getting better and better.

"Did you see her trying to hold that sword?" Bethany asked, a smug smile on her lips.

"Pa-thetic," the brown haired girl said. She wore the regulation orange camp t-shirt and was braiding her hair as she walked.

"Oh, Tara! Remember when she seemed to not have a clue what she was doing?" This one I recognized from earlier as Lauren. She was a daughter of Apollo, I think.

"HA! You mean the whole time," Bethany cut in. The other three girls laughed and

"Way pathetic." The one the other girl had called Tara said. Didn't she know any other adjectives?

"She doesn't belong here, that's for sure." Bethany said curtly and I felt the familiar sting of tears but I refused to let them fall. I stood up, dusting off my shorts and headed back to the Big

House. I'd like to say that I walked back calmly to the Big House with my head held high. But that would be a lie. I ran back to my room as fast as my legs would carry me. I threw open

the door to my room and slammed it shut, leaning against it. Big fat tears rolled down my cheeks and I sobbed. I would have stayed like that forever if someone hand't have cleared their

throat. I looked up, feeling interrupted and my heart jumped into my throat. A few feet away lay a girl of about sixteen dressed in a tie-dyed head scarf, white t-shirt and jeans. Her head

was cocked to the side and she looked really confused.

"Oh," my cheeks flamed red, "I'm sorry. Wrong room." I got up to leave when she walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. Her face was warm and her smile was sympathetic.

"No sweat," she said, holding out her hand. "Rachel's the name. Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

I shook it, "Brenna."

"Are you alright?" She asked. A whistling noise broke the silence."Oh! That's the kettle! Just a sec," She tip-toed over to a table where a kettle had been plugged into the wall, a red light flashed on the front. I looked around the room, noticing that although it was the same design and layout as mine, it didn't look anything like the room next door. Posters layered the wall for organizations like PETA and WWF, with cute endangered animals everywhere. Her bed sheets had been tie-dyed every colour in the rainbow and objects were strewn everywhere, making the room look extremely messy.

Or, at least that's what I would have seen had I not been er... distracted.

She opened a tin and pulled out a handful of tea bags. "Tea?"

I had never been one for hot drinks, but I didn't want to look rude. "Uh, sure please. What kind?"

"Chamomile," smiled, grabbing a second cup. I sat down on one of the chairs that was set up around the table wiping my tears away. "So what's wrong?"

"Oh, its nothing." She didn't look convinced and I hadn't seen a face as kind as hers for weeks. "You wouldn't understand."

"Let me take a guess." She handed me a cup of tea, steam rising off the yellow liquid. I brought the cup to my lips and took a small sip. It was bitter but I smiled. "You hate it here. No one gets you and everything pretty much sucks?"

"Sort of," I said, and I pretty much said everything that had been on my mind for the past week. "Since I got here, I felt pretty weird. Then I felt a bit closer to my dad and thought that maybe I'd even be able to connect with him or something. But I've been here for two weeks and I'm not any closer.

I stared at her, curiously. "Who was your parent?" I asked, "Well, before you became the Oracle, I mean."

"I'm mortal. As far as I know, you have to be just a regular person to do it. But you can't just be any ordinary human. You have to be able to see through the mist." She took another drink of her tea and tapped her multi-coloured fingernails on the table top. "You do know what the mist is, don't you?"

I nodded, taking another drink of tea and preparing my tongue for the upcoming sensation of bitterness."What happens if you, you know, aren't the right one?"

"If your body rejects the transformation, you...you go crazy."

"Oh," and I thought I had it bad.

"Has it happened recently?"

She nodded, her face grim.

"A while ago, but I saw the effects."

She picked up the teapot and poured herself another cup. "More?"

I shook my head, "No thanks, I'm alright" I lifted my cup to my lips and took another sip.

"So," she said, absentmindedly stirring her tea. "What set you off?"

"Set me off?" I asked, not following what she meant.

"Made you, you know, cry," her smile was sympathetic.

"Oh, just this girl," I said, "I tried to stand up to this girl in the arena. She was saying that being undetermined won't get you anywhere here." I know it sounded stupid, but maybe Bethany had been right. Maybe I didn't belong here.

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "Do you know her name?"

"Bethany, I think."

She nodded, sipping her tea again, "From Athena cabin?"

I nodded, playing along, all the while wondering what the 20 questions was for.

"She's a purity."

My jaw dropped. "You mean she's an actual goddess?" Gods, I seemed to have a knack for picking the worst possible opponent and making an enemy out of them. Maybe I should just go and piss off the rest of camp and be done with it.

"Ha!," Rachel snorted into her tea cup, "She wishes!"

"Oh," I mumbled, "I just thought..."

"Yeah, I know. It's cool. A lot of people think that. The Purities have this thing with being claimed before thirteen. Bethany was brought here when she was eleven, Tara when she was nine, even Lauren who was twelve. She had to fight like crazy to get in. Needless to say, you Brenna, will never be a purity."

I had to laugh at that, There was just something about Rachel that made me happy, that made me feel like I was at home with my mother, watching a DVD with subtitles (which I happen to love, _thank-you_). Or maybe it was just the disgusting bitter crap er..._tea _I was drinking.

"So what did Beth do exactly?" Rachel asked, staring at me quizzically.

"Uh, where do I start." I sighed, recalling every detail of that afternoon. "Before or after she turned me into the biggest loser at camp?"

"Preferably, before."

"Well," I began, biting my lip. "Chiron suggested I try making new friends here at camp and according to him, the arena sounded like a good idea."

"Oh, boy." Rachel put a hand on her forehead, I continued.

"Then it got bad. She started attacking me, calling out dead all the time."

"And I see she actually got you a few times,"

I looked down at my leg which had a thin line of hardened blood around the left ankle and my knees, which were toast.

"Yeah, about that..."

She stood up and walked over to her bed, opening the drawer on her nightstand ever so slowly. She pulled out a little bottle of yellow-gold liquid and pulled out the stopper.

"Here," I reached out to take it and leaned in to take a wiff of the intoxicating nectar. Only it wasn't. It smelled like the cleaning products my mom kept under the sink and I gagged.

"What is that stuff?" I coughed, holding my nose.

"It disinfects wounds...? Haven't you ever heard of Polysporin?"

"Yeah, but where I come from, it comes out of a tube. And it isn't gold."

"Oh," Her expression flickered slightly, like I had just reminded her of something, "Right. Well, this stuff is Apollo-grade. He pretty much does whatever he wants to it and it works." She shrugged. "Just pour it over your cuts and they'll be fine."

I did as I was told and my cuts faded slightly. "They'll be gone in an hour, max," she smiled. I picked up my cup, not quite sure where to put it.

"Oh, just put it over by the kettle, I'll wash it later." I set it down beside about twenty or so other empty cups that reeked of chamomile tea, wondering when exactly, 'later' was.

"Thanks," I smiled, relief flooding over me. "for everything but I should probably get going."

"Anytime!" She grinned, getting up to pour herself another cup of tea. She stopped, and looked at me, "Don't worry about Bethany, there are plenty of other people here who are less, _judgmental_.

_Or just plain mental, _I added, silently.

"You'll be sure to find lots of new people to hang around with. Maybe just go for a walk or something? It usually helps me."

"Maybe I will," I said as I was on my way out.

I shut the door behind me and looked at my watch, it was already after 1! How had I spent so long at Rachel's?

Maybe I would take a walk, I mean, at least it would calm me down. Even if I were to run into Bethany again, I'm sure that there'd be a nearby bush or something for me to jump into at a moments notice. It was nature, after all!

I walked over to my closet and pulled out a clean shirt, abandoning my old one at my feet. I'd pick it up later.

I ran a brush through my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, before heading out a second time.

I heard the door of the big house shut behind me with finality. The sun blazed through the clouds overhead and voices sounded from every direction. It was pure freedom!

The property line that enclosed camp seemed to go on for miles and trees dotted the perimeter. There was one tree that stood out, a burly pine easily twenty feet or so taller than the rest. Wrapped around it was what looked like a giant piece of fabric?

_You've got to be kidding me, _I thought, rolling my eyes and jogging over for a closer look. When I got there, however, I noticed a large crowd had gathered around the boundary.

"Stand back!" Bethany cried, her voice, though assertive, seemed distant and strained. "Everyone! Stand-" She swallowed, voice breaking,"back."

I broke through the throngs of people and caught a first glimpse of the scene. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.

"We need nectar!" He called, his black hair flopping over his eyes, "Now!"

Two lumps lay soundlessly on the ground, Bethany crouched over the smaller of the two, talking to it...her, I noted.

I walked towards them, hoping my air of confidence was convincing enough.

"What-" My voice broke as I stared down at the little girl in the dirt. She had woken up by still lay, barely moving.

"Breath," Bethany cooed to the girl, "breath, you're going to be alright."

Another camper arrived with a bottle full of nectar and was coaxing it into the girl's mouth while Bethany whispered to her.

"What happened?" I asked, finally getting my question out. My hands shook and I mus have looked like a basket case. Most of the crowd had begun to disperse and Chiron, galloping at full speed, hurried over.

"Brenna!" he said, curtly, "This is no place for you!"

"I want to help," I said, my voice sounded pitiful.

"Then leave." Bethany said, her eyes cutting through me like daggers.

Nico walked over to me, and frowned. "It came out of no where." He whispered.

"What came out of no where?" I demanded.

He pointed out at the thick forest below Half-Blood Hill and I swear I saw a pair of familiar snake-like green eyes. "That."

I looked over towards the second figure that lay on the ground, face down. It was a satyr. I had seen them all around camp. But this one wasn't moving.

"Is it-" I asked, realizing the disturbing truth.

"Dead?" He finished, "Yes, she is dead."

Chiron passed with the limp, lifeless body of the dead satyr in his arms. "Bethany!" He called, "Bring the child to the infirmary."

"Will she be okay?" I asked, forming each word slowly. The cold hard truth of the situation was something I had yet to realize. There was only so much I could take in.

"I don't know," Nico shook his head just as Bethany passed us with the little girl, no older than eight or nine in her arms. She turned to look at my, her eyes boring into mine. The only emotion on her face was pure exasperation, directed at me obviously. Her voice sent chills down my spine.

_"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."_


End file.
